HOMERESSAY

Written Assignment #1 Religion
in Select Passages from Homeric Greek Epic

We will begin the course by looking at early Greek representations of
religion in epic, and writing about how they portray religious concepts.

Schedule.

Thursday, January 17

Read Homer Iliad Books 1, 15, 18 (lines 1-154), and 21. You may
use any translation you have, or a text from the Library, or Perseus’ on-line
Iliad:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134

Make notes on the use of prayer, sacrifice, reciprocity, the nature of
the gods, the relation of gods to mortals and to each other, funerary ritual,
and other points of interest. We will discuss these in class.

Tuesday January 22

Read Homer Odyssey Books 1 (lines 1-119), 3, 11. You may use any
translation you

have, or a text from the Library, or Perseus’ on-line Odyssey:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0218

·Make notes on the relations between gods and mortals, divine
versus human responsibility, sacrifice, prayer, libations, prophecy, the
nature of the dead, and heroes. We will discuss these in class.

Thursday January 24

There will be no class meeting this day, to allow you time to arrange
your notes and thoughts into an essay.

Tuesday, 29 January.

Hand in essay on varieties of religious expression in Homer. This essay
must not exceed five pages in length, and will be a summary of what you
have learned about religion in the epic passages, with relevant citations
of the texts you consult. It will be double-spaced, in 12-point type, and
cover whatever aspects of religion you find of most interest in what you
read. You should show that you have carefully read and thought about the
religious aspects of Homeric epic.

The professor will not accept late essays.

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